Shelley Scoullar well remembers the first year her family grew rice.
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It was 2010 and as they waited for the water to come down the channel for the very first time, the Deniliquin farmer knew she’d found what she was meant to be doing.
“I just remember the feeling of going, ‘Oh my gosh, this is why I’m here’,” she recalls.
“I just fell in love with it from that moment.”
Shelley says her father never saw her as being a boy or a girl in terms of working on the land.
“He just saw me as someone who wanted to engage and someone who was passionate,” she says.
After finishing a degree in science Shelley realised she belonged out on the farm, not in a lab, and purchased her very own farm across the road from her parents’ property.
“I just don’t think the farming got out of my blood and I knew this was what I was meant to be doing,” she explains.
“I’m in my element when I’m out there inspecting my crop and seeing how it’s going.”
It’s this love of the land that artist Kate Shriner has captured in a unique virtual reality illustration commissioned by Kellogg’s, which is celebrating 90 years of sourcing grain from Aussie farmers.
With the stress of the drought taking its toll across the country, Kellogg’s said it wanted to brighten the day of Shelley with a personal artwork designed by the Sydney artist.
Katie was given the challenge of working in a new tech medium - translating her illustrations of Shelley’s farm into a total virtual experience for Shelley and her family.
The pair connected on Skype and chatted about the farm, Shelley’s three sons and the wildlife that dots the Deniliquin landscape.
“We live across the road from Mum and Dad and the kids ... can ride their bikes over there,” Shelley explained to the artist.
“There are just so many different bird species depending on which stage the crop is at.”
One week later Katie arrived at the Deniliquin farm with the headset containing her virtual artwork.
She took Shelley out into the paddock, placed the headset on and shared what she had captured.
There was laughter, tears, lots of oohs and ahs as Shelley twirled around in the virtual world of her farm.
“This is just so cool,” she exclaimed.
“I keep going around and I find something new each time … oh my, thankyou so much … this is just such an amazing thing.”
Shelley says Katie captured their lives beautifully:
“She’s summed it up pretty well, our life.”
“When I got to do the Skype with Katie and then meet her in person, it’s just amazing how she could put my life into an artwork – it just blew my mind.
“I’m just so, so grateful to be part of this wonderful experience.”
I don’t think the farming got out of my blood ... I’m in my element when I’m out there inspecting my crop and seeing how it’s going.
- Shelley Scoullar
Kellogg’s is celebrating its long and proud connection to Australia where it began production in 1924 and built a plant at Botany four years later.
But the company – and its famous Kellogg’s Corn Flakes – came about as the result of a “fortunate” accident in 1898.
WK (Will) Kellogg and his brother Dr John Harvey Kellogg accidentally flaked wheat berries when they attempted to make a cereal of wheats, oats and cornmeal clusters.
Will reportedly kept experimenting until he flaked corn, and created the recipe for Corn Flakes.
In 1906, he opened the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company and hired his first 44 employees.
Together they created the initial batch of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes and brought to life WK’s vision for great-tasting, better-for-you breakfast foods.
In 1969, The Kellogg Company proudly laid claim to providing breakfast for the legendary Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins during their ground-breaking Apollo 11 trip to the moon.
The Australian manufacturing facilities of Kellogg’s cereal are still based at Botany, on the train line and near to the wharves for convenient shipping of products across the country and into the Asia-Pacific region.
In 2006, Kellogg’s was the first company in Australia to provide a Percentage Daily Intake Counter on the front of packs to help people make more informed choices about foods they eat.
Australians continue to chow down on cereal, with sales of the breakfast staple a bright spot for the global foods manufacturer.
Kellogg's is the biggest cereal maker in Australia, with an estimated one-third market share in 2016 with brands like Corn Flakes, Crunchy Nut, All-Bran, Rice Bubbles, Special K and Coco Pops.
In 2015 Kellogg’s rolled out the new Government Health Star Rating initiative on its cereals in Australia and New Zealand.
Like many farmers, Shelley feels a connection with the crops that contribute to our morning breakfast staples.
She loves sending off her rice knowing it’s being used to feed millions of Australians.
Her greatest hope is for the farm that grows this precious produce to stay in her family.
“We love this bit of dirt and we’ve worked so hard and Dad’s planted so many trees,” Shelley says.
“We’ve really shaped it into who we are.
“Harvest time is about family and everyone pitching in and that’s what our little family does.
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